The European Union regulator announced in a press release that Microsoft is legally allowed to acquire Blizzard’s Activision. This license is issued after a few weeks ago, the British regulator had blocked the contract between Microsoft and Activision.
The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, says Microsoft’s commitment to the cloud gaming market allays concerns about the company’s potential monopoly. Therefore, from Europe’s point of view, there is no obstacle to conclude a contract.
After an extensive investigation, the European Union has found that Microsoft has no incentive to refuse to distribute Activision games to Sony, and even if Microsoft decides to remove Activision games from PlayStation, this action will not harm competition in the console market.
The European Union regulator, like the British regulator, says that Activision’s sale to Microsoft may harm competition in the distribution of PC and console games through cloud gaming services.
According to VergeThe European Commission believes that with some solutions, such as the 10-year agreements that Microsoft signs with competing companies, it is possible to issue a contract license with Activision.
Another of these solutions is a free license to consumers living in the European Union, so that these people can experience all of Activision Blizzard’s PC and console games with their favorite cloud streaming services. In addition, cloud service providers will receive a free license to stream these games in European countries.
In a part of this statement, we read that European users can play all the Activision Blizzard games that they have bought or prepared with a subscription service, in all cloud gaming services and on all devices with all operating systems.
Margaret Vestagerone of the senior members of the European Commission, says that the approval of the contract between Microsoft and Activision will make popular games available to more users and devices thanks to cloud services.
Less than a month ago, the United Kingdom announced its official opposition to Microsoft and Activision’s contract. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said at the time that the main reason for blocking the deal was because of concerns about the cloud gaming market.
According to the UK, Microsoft and Activision’s contract will reduce innovation and gamers’ power of choice. Microsoft has filed an appeal; But the process of dealing with this request will take months.
In recent months, Microsoft has tried to address the concerns of regulatory bodies. One of Microsoft’s important actions was signing contracts with competing companies; Agreements that eased the European Union’s imagination; But they were not enough for Britain.
Britain is concerned that Microsoft’s control over popular game series such as Call of Duty, Overwatch and World of Warcraft will make the company too powerful and reduce competition in the gaming industry.
By approving the contract, the European Union gave good news to Microsoft and made the company more hopeful about the appeal in the UK. Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Chile, Serbia, Japan and South Africa have approved the agreement. It goes without saying that China, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia are also considering the contract.
The United States has yet to make a final decision. The US Federal Trade Commission formally sued Microsoft last year to block the deal. It should be noted that the case is still under consideration.
